CLA Brings Postpartum Family Planning to Women's Doorsteps in BD

Ensuring access to postpartum family planning (PPFP) is a public health imperative and a priority of the Government of Bangladesh. PPFP is critical for reducing maternal and infant deaths by preventing unplanned pregnancies and closely spaced pregnancies through the first 12 months after childbirth. But in a country where more than 1 in 3 births occur at home, accessing PPFP remains a significant challenge.

In 2019, USAID’s Accelerating Universal Access to Family Planning Project, known as Shukhi Jibon in Bangladesh, began leveraging the collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) framework to rapidly test, refine, and document a groundbreaking new approach that brings PPFP services to the doorsteps of hard-to-reach mothers. Through strong external collaboration with Bangladesh’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the project trained frontline service provider cadres in community-based PPFP, enhanced coordination across Bangladesh’s bifurcated service delivery system, and fostered opportunities for government stakeholders and community members to pause, reflect, and adapt—to ensure all women can exercise their right to high-quality PPFP services.

This initiative shows that by leveraging CLA approaches and existing public-sector resources, and enhancing coordination among implementers, the government of Bangladesh has the power to drive significant progress on PPFP. Activities have contributed to a 23% increase in PPFP counseling during antenatal care visits as well as an increase in uptake of progestin-only pills, contraceptive implants, no-scalpel vasectomies, and intrauterine devices. Shukhi Jibon’s community-based PPFP activities have now expanded to strengthen community-based PPFP services for a population of 14.7 million eligible couples in project areas.